​There is a week left before the EU Council, at which it will be decided whether Romania will get the green light for Schengen, and currently the authorities in Bucharest have no guarantees that our country’s wait will end.

If in the case of Sweden and the Netherlands the officials from Bucharest relaxed, the signals from Austria are not encouraging yet.

If, in the case of Sweden, the objecting Social Democrats announced that they would not oppose Romania’s entry into Schengen, Bucharest is waiting for answers from the Netherlands and Sweden, which must decide on the mandate of the JAI Council on November 8. According to HotNews.ro sources, the Netherlands will not be against Romania’s entry into Schengen. Instead, there are fears that Austria will maintain its publicly expressed opinion that it opposes the accession of the candidacies of Romania and Bulgaria.

A week ago, Austria said it had objections to the expansion of the European free movement zone. Austrian officials, namely Interior Minister Gerhard Karner and the head of government in Vienna, Karl Nehhammer, have publicly stated that they oppose the admission of Bulgaria and Romania to Schengen because of the large number of migrants arriving in the country. the center of Europe.

In this context, Interior Minister Lucian Bode met with his Austrian counterpart Gerhard Karner on November 23. During the discussions, the Romanian Interior Minister explained to his colleague that Romania does not send emigrants to Western Europe, but the route of those arriving in Austria runs through Serbia and Hungary.

The conclusions of the meeting were unclear, Austrian officials avoided sending a response that would confirm Romania’s support for joining the Schengen area. According to HotNews.ro sources, Lucian Bode has not received any concrete response from Austrian officials, which worries officials from Bucharest.

Moreover, the result of the Bode-Karner meeting was immediately manifested in a public speech by President Klaus Iohannis, who announced that Romania’s accession “can be delayed for a month or two, until all questions are given clear and correct answers.”

• Klaus Iohannis: “I want to be very clear, if for various reasons we cannot have certainty by December 8 that everything is very clear, there is a possibility that this decision will be delayed for one or two months until all the questions get clear and correct answers , and everyone will see that we are not only not vulnerable, we would be a real asset to the Schengen area, and to finish what I said, some have questions for us and others question Schengen. The Schengen zone operates according to some rules that were established several years ago.

A day later, President Klaus Iohannis qualified his statement by saying that he sees a possible vote in the JAI Council on December 8 on Romania’s accession to Schengen. “I think we still have enough time to figure it out, to solve all the problems. It is true that some of our friends have come up with new questions. We are ready to cooperate and ready to see the vote on December 8,” the president explained.

In this context, the option was spread that the entry of Romania and Bulgaria into Schengen could be postponed until March. HotNews.ro talked to several Romanian MEPs who are in Brussels these days and are in touch with the latest information.

How are you doing in the week before JAI

Together with Austria, the Netherlands and Sweden expressed doubts. Recently, the Swedish Social Democrats, who were opposed in the national parliament, announced that their party would not oppose Romania’s entry into the Schengen area.

So far, according to HotNews.ro sources, the Dutch government has not sent a report on its position to the national parliament. “From the information we have, the report is favorable for Romania, but there is dissatisfaction in the Dutch parliament that the government’s report has not arrived, and now another procedure is being sought, so that the Dutch parliament no longer votes, but only takes note. of this report,” they claim with reference to sources.

The same sources also claim that Austria will still maintain its reservations and refuse to vote for the accession of Romania and Bulgaria.

PNL MEP Siegfried Muresyan explains to HotNews.ro what the dynamics and procedure are for the reports that the Netherlands and Austria have to provide.

“In Holland, the parliament has a very strong position on the government, national law and customs, and the importance of the subject is such that the parliament will speak before the government can position itself in the Council. In Austria, the decision will be made by the Cabinet of Ministers,” says Siegfried Muresan.

“We don’t have an answer from Austria, and it’s a lottery”

The technical data on the conditions put forward for Romania to join the Schengen area have been met, Romanian and European officials say. Thus, two additional post-November 11 assessment reports on Romania by Dutch and German officials who arrived in Romania are positive. The increase in MCV is another pro for Romania. Added to them is the support of Romania’s accession to the Schengen zone by Germany, France and the Czech Republic.

During a meeting in Berlin with Lucian Bode, Germany’s Federal Minister of the Interior, Nancy Feser, assured Romania that she would “resolutely and resolutely” take a decision favorable to Romania on 8 December.

• Apart from the official statements and positions, the reality is this: “We have no answer from Austria and it is a lottery. We don’t know if they have changed their position on Romania.”official European sources explained to HotNews.ro.

Interior Minister Lucian Bode, contacted by HotNews.ro, said: “I can tell you that we, the Romanian officials, understand that this is a political vote by the member states, and we also know that any political voting also has a touch of subjectivity. In my opinion, the political vote should take into account the facts, and the facts are clear: EU experts have checked and the Commission has twice firmly and decisively announced that Romania is ready and must join the Schengen area without delay on December 8. “.

What are Romania’s other chances and what are the scenarios

Two accession resolutions, a resolution by Romania and Bulgaria and a resolution by Croatia, to be put to a vote in the JAI (Justice and Home Affairs) Council, are on the agenda for the December 8 meeting. EU ambassadors will meet on December 2 in Athens.

According to Romanian officials, after the meeting in Athens, it will be known whether Romania will be accepted or not. There are currently three scenarios:

• Romania and Bulgaria get Austria’s support, resolution voted on December 8 at JAI board, and both countries join Schengen
• Romania and Bulgaria do not receive support from Austria, then the resolution is removed from the agenda of the JAI Council on December 8
• Romania receives the support of Austria, but not Bulgaria. In this case, there will be a delay in the procedures and Romania will enter Schengen in March 2023.

PSD MEP Victor Negrescu claims that if Romania were to be separated from Bulgaria, given that the two countries have a joint resolution and will receive a joint vote, it would mean delaying the integration period in the Schengen area. In particular, we will have the accession of Croatia by road from January 1, 2023 and by air from March. If Romania separates from Bulgaria, our country will definitely enter Schengen in March 2023, because we will have to go through new administrative steps.

• Victor Negrescu, PSD: “Currently, the last negotiations regarding Romania’s accession to the Schengen area are being held at the Council of Internal Affairs on December 8. There is a possibility of outages. In particular, Romania and Croatia should enter the Schengen zone, and Bulgaria should not receive support from other member states. The reluctance of the two states, Austria and the Netherlands, is also reflected in the way both states act in their national parliaments. The situation is developing and we still believe in Romania’s chance.”
• Juliu Winkler, UDMR: “These are two separate decisions, because from a legal point of view it cannot be otherwise. Croatia’s accession to the EU came a few years after the accession of Romania and Bulgaria, which was a package deal. At the moment there is all kinds of speculation, and it will be until the last moment, both in European circles and in the affected countries. There are many political discussions. (…) I hope that this does not matter much in the big equation that concerns the positive report of the MCV and the report submitted by the Commission on accession, which was adopted by an overwhelming majority. The call for solidarity will be heard, as it has been for several years, especially recently. This call for solidarity must be heard now, because now is the time to show the solidarity that has been asked of us.”
• Vlad Gheorghe, USR: “We have been technically prepared since 2011, a fact repeatedly confirmed by all involved institutions, the Commission and the European Parliament – recently we voted another resolution on the entry of our country, Bulgaria and Croatia into the single traffic zone. However, the problem is at a high level, from President Ioannis to the relevant ministries, from the Interior headed by Mr. Bode to Justice Preda and Foreign Affairs, where Mr. Aurescu. If these institutions, if the president in his second term and the PSD-PNL-UDMR governors did their job, any opposition from the Netherlands, Austria and Sweden could be very easily countered – if, I repeat, there was no truth in the criticism. received by Romania (…) on December 1 we will know if enlargement will be on the agenda of the JAI on December 8-9, so unfortunately there is no time now to correct everything that you have not done in power for many years. It is a shame and Romanians should no longer pay for the incompetence and inaction of the USL 2 government”